Panel On Principal Mission

PLAINVILLE — Teachers, parents and students will have the opportunity tonight to evaluate seven people who want to be the next principal of the middle school.

Some already have in mind their ideal candidate -- a listener, a visionary, a competent leader who will talk frankly about discipline and student violence and who will help seek solid solutions.

``We're going to need a strong disciplinarian. It's a must,'' said Wayne Zalaski, one of five teachers chosen to publicly interview the candidates at the 6 p.m. meeting.

``Today's kids are looking for discipline,'' said Zalaski, a middle school social studies teacher. ``We need someone who can create rules and regulations and let kids know exactly what the rules are.''

An incident at the end of the school year in which an eighth- grader was arrested after he threatened to bring a bomb to the graduation ceremony, coupled with fresh incidents of school shootings across the country, got people talking in earnest about student violence and discipline.

Eighth-grader Michael Fabrizio, the middle school student council president, is one of those concerned. Fabrizio said he plans to talk to the new principal about organizing a student forum to contribute to the discussion.

``I'd like to have, maybe, an after- school group that would talk about student violence,'' Fabrizio said. ``Students could show up to talk about violence and ways to resolve it, and we could invite guest speakers, maybe police or counselors. People like that. I think it's a really big issue because a lot of things have happened.''

Everyone is invited to meet the seven principal candidates -- six of whom are current principals or assistant principals in the state and one who works in Massachusetts. The meeting, which will be at the middle school, was organized by a committee set up to screen applicants for the job.

The committee -- a group of teachers, parents and board members -- wanted some public feedback, Superintendent Max Riley said. The five teachers will be allowed to ask questions of the candidates, while everyone else will be asked to rate the candidates based on their answers and on a presentation that each will make before the interviews.

After the committee privately interviews the candidates again, three finalists will be chosen and the school board will make an offer by the end of the month. The new principal, who is expected to start by October, will replace Paul Cavaliere, who recently resigned after 10 years.